Packaging element

ABSTRACT

The invention relates to a tape-like packaging element made from a polyester-based plastic tape, the plastic tape comprising at least one splicing inhibitor, wherein the splicing inhibitor is a thermoplastic, styrene-based polymer.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of and Applicant claims priorityunder 35 U.S.C. §120 of U.S. application Ser. No. 13/135,101 filed onJun. 24, 2011, which claims priority under 35 U.S.C. §119 from AustrianPatent Application No. A 1083/2010 filed on Jun. 25, 2010, thedisclosures of each of which are hereby incorporated by reference. Acertified copy of priority Austrian Patent Application No. A 1083/2010is contained in parent U.S. application Ser. No. 13/135,101.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The invention relates to a tape-like packaging element, in particular astrapping tape or harvesting twine made from a polyester-based plastictape, wherein at least one splicing inhibitor is contained in theplastic tape.

2. Description of the Related Art

Strapping tapes are usually made of polyesters or polyolefins in anextrusion process and subsequently stretched. Owing to the alignment ofthe molecules during the stretching process they have a predispositionto splicing, i.e. the formation of tears in tape direction. Owing to theembrittlement of plastics at lower temperatures, in particular below 5°C., the splicing tendency is increased further. To reduce the splicingtendency splicing inhibitors are usually added to the compounds forproducing strapping tapes. Previously used splicing inhibitors have nothelped sufficiently to reduce embrittlement at low temperatures.

From WO 03/087200 A1 a packaging tape is known, which consists up tomore than 92 wt. % of a polyester and less than a total of 8 wt. % of anadditive with a polyolefin base and additional additives, wherein theproportion of polyolefin additive is less than 3 wt. %. As additionaladditives also polystyrene-based elastomers are used in a proportion ofbetween 0.5 wt. % and 2 wt. %. By adding polyolefin the longitudinalpredisposition to splicing should be reduced. Likewise the styreneelastomers are intended to contribute to a reduction of this splicingtendency.

The use of styrene-butadiene rubber in proportions of up to 25 wt. % ina polyethylene band is also known from DE 20 37 398 A1, although in thisdocument the purpose of the additive is not indicated.

DE 27 27 356 A1 describes a binding tape which is made from aheat-curable and thermoplastic resin, wherein the resins are derivedfrom the same monomers, so that the two resins have a chemical affinityto one another, and wherein the heat-curable resin is an unsaturatedpolyester resin cross-linked with styrene. The thermoplastic resin canbe an acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene-mixed polymerizate or anacrylonitrile-styrene-mixed polymerizate. In this way a binding tape ofsufficient strength should be produced which is comparable with a steelband, which has high tensile strength and low expansion as well as lowcreep behavior, and which can be joined easily and securely at the ends.In this case the thermoplastic resin forms the outer layer of thebinding tape and the heat-curable resins forms the core.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The objective of the present invention is to create a tape-likepackaging element, which even at lower temperatures has a reducedtendency to splicing.

This objective is achieved on the one hand by the aforementionedtape-like packaging element, which contains a thermoplastic,styrene-based polymer as the splicing inhibitor, and independently ofthis by the use of a styrene-based polymer as the splicing inhibitor fora polyester-based strapping tape or harvesting twine.

Surprisingly, it has been established that by using thermoplasticstyrene-polymers, i.e. not elastomeric polymers, as embrittlementinhibitors to reduce the splicing sensitivity of packaging tapes, inparticular strapping tapes or harvesting twine, not only is thisproperty reduced, but also its use is improved at low applicationtemperatures by reducing the embrittlement tendency of the tape-likepackaging element. The term “low application temperature” is defined asa temperature of below 5° C., whereby naturally a limit is set at lowtemperatures conditional to the material.

In this connection polymers or mixed polymerizates have proved to beparticularly suitable as splicing inhibitors, which are selected from agroup comprising or consisting of polystyrene homopolymer,styrene-butadiene-copolymer (SB), acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrenecopolymer (ABS), methyl-methacrylate-acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrenecopolymer (MABS), styrene-acrylonitrile copolymer (SAN),acrylonitrile-styrene-acrylate copolymer (ASA), styrene-maleic acidanhydride copolymer (SMA), acrylonitrile-ethylene-styrene copolymer(AES), acrylonitrile-chlorinated polyethylene-styrene (ACS),methyl-methacrylate-butadiene-styrene (MBS), styrene-α-methyl styrenecopolymer (SAM) as well as mixtures thereof. The reason for theirparticular suitability could only be verified hitherto by tests. Thereis not yet a molecular level explanation for this.

Preferably, the proportion of styrene-based polymer in the plastic tapeis selected from a range with a lower limit of 0.2 wt. % and an upperlimit of 20 wt. %, in particular 5 wt. %. Below 0.2 wt. % the splicingreduction is too low. Above 20 wt. % the proportion of the base polymeris reduced so far that the packaging tape has worse properties withrespect to its tensile strength.

Advantageously, the polyester is a thermoplastic polyester, inparticular a saturated polyester, whereby according to one embodimentvariant the polyester is selected from a group comprising or consistingof polyethylene terephthalate (PET), polybutylene terephthalate (PBT),polycarbonate (PC), polyethylene naphthalate (PEN) as well as mixturesthereof. In particular, said polyesters are characterized by having verypositive mechanical properties, such as e.g. rigidity, hardness,abrasion resistance, dynamic and thermal loadability, i.e. propertieswhich are valuable with respect to packaging tapes. In addition, withrespect to the styrene-based polymers positive interactions wereobserved.

According to one embodiment variant of the polyester-based packagingelement the latter is completely free of polyolefin or contains lessthan 8 wt. %, in particular less than 0.2 wt. % polyolefin(s). In thisway a reduction in the tensile strength and the hardness of the plastictape is also avoided.

It is also possible that the packaging element in addition to thestyrene-based splicing inhibitors contains at least one additionaldifferent splicing inhibitor in the plastic tape, which is selected inparticular from a group comprising or consisting ofolefin-acrylate-copolymers, thermoplastic polymers (TPE), low densitypolyethylene (LDPE), linear LDPE (LLDPE), polyethylene, polypropylene,butadiene rubber (BR), as well as mixtures thereof. In this way theprofile of properties of the packaging element can be adjusted moreeffectively and finely to the respective area of application.

In this case it has proved to be advantageous if the additional splicinginhibitor is contained in a proportion such that the ratio ofstyrene-based splicing inhibitor to additional splicing inhibitor isselected from a range of from 80:20 to 20:80, in particular 60:40 to40:60. In this way a reduction in the effect of the styrene-basedsplicing inhibitor is avoided with a high degree of reliability, whichis significant in particular with respect to the production method ofthe tape-like packaging element in changing conditions of production.

It has proved to be particularly advantageous with respect to thereduction of brittle fractures if the styrene-based polymer in theplastic tape is unattached and/or domain-like, whereby it is preferableif the domains are stretched in at least one spatial direction, thelatter having in particular in at least one spatial direction an atleast almost elliptical cross section. In particular, according to oneembodiment variant the binding forces between the domain and thesurrounding matrix are weaker than the binding forces inside the matrixand inside the domain. By avoiding the chemical crosslinking of the basepolymer with the molecules of the splicing inhibitor, whereby the latterare unattached within the meaning of the invention, a change in thetensile strength is avoided, whereby the domain-like embodiment acts asan area in which tears “fizzle out”. The stretched, in particular atleast almost elliptical form of the domains has a positive effect withregard to maintaining the anisotropic properties of the plastic tape.The term “domain” is defined in this case as a discrete, delimited areain the plastic tape.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

For a better understanding of the invention the latter is explained inmore detail with reference to the following Figures.

FIG. 1 shows a scanning electron microscope image of a cross section ofa polyester-based strapping tape with 2 wt. % polystyrene;

FIG. 2 shows a scanning electron microscope image of a cross section ofa polyester-based strapping tape without the additive according to theinvention of a thermoplastic styrene polymer;

FIG. 3 shows a graphic representation of the splicing tendency ofdifferent strapping tapes at −5° C.;

FIG. 4 shows a graphic representation of the splicing tendency ofdifferent strapping tapes at −15° C.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Firstly, it should be noted that individual features or combination offeatures of the different described exemplary embodiments can representin themselves independent solutions according to the invention.

All of the details relating to value ranges in the present descriptionare defined such that the latter include any and all part ranges, e.g. arange of 1 to 10 means that all part ranges, starting from the lowerlimit of 1 to the upper limit 10 are included, i.e. the whole part rangebeginning with a lower limit of 1 or above and ending at an upper limitof 10 or less, e.g. 1 to 1.7, or 3.2 to 8.1 or 5.5 to 10.

The strip-like packaging element according to the invention is a plastictape and in particular a strapping tape or a harvesting twine.

The packaging element is preferably produced with a polyester base.Polyester-based is defined in the invention to mean that the strappingtape or agricultural twine or packaging element is made from a basematerial or matrix material consisting of at least one polyester, i.e.the polyester or the polyester mixture is the main component with aproportion of at least 50 wt. % in the packaging element. Preferably,the tape-like packaging element contains a proportion of polyester of atleast 75 wt. %, in particular at least 85 wt. % or at least 90 wt. %.

The polyester used is preferably a saturated or thermoplastic polyester.As the polyester a polymer is preferably used which is selected from agroup comprising or consisting of polyethylene terephthalate (PET),polybutylene terephthalate (PBT), polycarbonate (PC), polyethylenenaphthalate (PEN) as well as mixtures thereof.

In addition to the polyester-based material the packaging element canalso contain additional additives, such as e.g. colorants, as known fromthe prior art and/or inorganic fillers, such as e.g. talcum or chalk. Inthe preferred embodiment of the invention the polyester-based packagingelement has no additional contents or additives in addition to thepolyester, the thermoplastic, styrene-based polymer and a colorant.

Preferably, the tape-like packaging element made of polyester-basedmaterial does not contain any polyolefins.

In the two embodiment variants of the tape-like packaging element as awrapping tape or agricultural twine the respective base materialcontains at least one thermoplastic, styrene-based polymer as a splicinginhibitor. A styrene-based polymer is defined as a polymer which iseither a homopolymer or a copolymer or a mixed polymerizate, wherein inany case a styrene monomer has been used for its production.

Preferably, a polymer is used as the styrene-based polymer, which isselected from a group comprising or consisting ofpolystyrene-homopolymer, styrene-butadiene-copolymer (SB),acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene copolymer (ABS),methyl-methacrylate-acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene copolymer (MABS),styrene-acrylonitrile copolymer (SAN), acrylonitrile-styrene-acrylatecopolymer (ASA), styrene-maleic acid-anhydride copolymer (SMA),acrylonitrile-ethylene-styrene copolymer (AES),acrylonitrile-chlorinated polyethylene-styrene (ACS),methyl-methacrylate-butadiene-styrene (MBS), styrene-α-methylstyrene-copolymer (SAM) as well as mixtures thereof.

In this case the latter are preferably common commercially availableproducts, as with the polyesters and the polyolefins and the additionalconstituents of the packaging element.

The proportion of styrene-based polymer in the plastic tape is selectedfrom a range with a lower limit of 0.2 wt. %, preferably 0.5 wt. %, andan upper limit of 20 wt. %, preferably 15 wt. %, in particular 3.5 wt.%.

A proportion of up to and including 80 wt. %, in particular 50 wt. %,preferably 20 wt. %, of said styrene-based polymer can however also bereplaced by an additional splicing inhibitor commonly used as a splicinginhibitor in such tape-like packaging elements, which is different fromthe styrene-based splicing inhibitor. In particular, said additionalsplicing inhibitor is selected from a group comprising or consisting ofolefin-acrylate copolymers, thermoplastic polymers (TPE), low densitypolyethylene (LDPE), linear LDPE (LLDPE), polyethylene, polypropylene,butadiene rubber (BR), as well as mixtures thereof. Preferably, theadditional splicing inhibitor is included in a proportion such that theratio of styrene-based splicing inhibitor to the additional splicinginhibitor is selected from a range of from 80:20 to 20:80, in particular60:40 to 40:60.

For test purposes the following compositions were processed in anextrusion process into tapes or twines, the tapes having a tape width of9 mm to 19 mm and the twines having a running length of 400 m/kg. As theproduction process of such tape-like packaging elements is known fromthe prior art, reference is made to the relevant literature for a personskilled in the art.

In the tables:

SP is defined as styrene polymer,

Std. additive is defined as a common additive used in the prior art, asexplained above,

[%] stands for wt. %.

Dimension Proportion SP Std. additive Test [mm] SP additive [%] [%] tape 9 × 0.55 PS 2.5 0 tape  15 × 0.55 PS 0.5 0 tape 15 × 1  PS 0.01 0 tape15 × 1  PS 0.02 0 tape 15 × 1  PS 0.04 0 tape 15 × 1  PS 1 0 tape 15 ×1  PS 2 0 tape 16 × 0.9 PS 2 0 tape 16 × 1.0 PS 2 0 tape 16 × 1.0 ABS0.5 0 tape 16 × 1.0 ABS 1 0 tape 16 × 1.0 ABS 1.5 0 tape 16 × 1.0 ABS 20 tape 16 × 1.0 ABS 2.5 0 tape 16 × 1.0 SAN 0.5 0 tape 16 × 1.0 SAN 1 0tape 16 × 1.0 SAN 1.5 0 tape 16 × 1.0 SAN 2 0 tape 16 × 1.0 SAN 2.5 0tape 19 × 1.0 PS 0.5 0 tape 19 × 1.0 PS 2 0 tape  19 × 1.27 PS 1 0 tape 19 × 1.27 PS 2 0 tape  19 × 1.27 PS 3.5 0 tape  19 × 1.27 PS 1 1 tape 19 × 1.27 PS 1.5 0.5 tape  19 × 1.27 PS 2.25 0.75

Test Running meters [m/kg] SP additive Proportion SP [%] twine 400 PS 1twine 400 PS 2 twine 400 PS 5

In the preferred embodiment of the tape-like packaging element at leastone proportion of 90%, in particular 95%, preferably 99%, of the totalproportion of styrene-based splicing inhibitor, preferably at leastalmost 100%, is unattached and/or domain-like in the plastic tape, asshown in FIG. 1, which shows a strapping tape with the composition 98wt. % PET and 2 wt. % PS. This is achieved in that the compound toproduce the packaging element is processed at a temperature of between250° C. and 310° C., in particular between 270° C. and 300° C.

In contrast FIG. 2 shows a scanning electron microscope image of a PETtape without the addition of a thermoplastic, styrene-based splicinginhibitor. In this way the difference from the packaging elementaccording to the invention is clarified. It can be seen that in thiscase also domains are formed (white points) which are formed bypart-crystalline areas of the PET.

One embodiment is particularly preferable in which the domains arestretched in one direction, as shown in FIG. 1. In addition, thestretching in at least one spatial direction of the domains was achievedby using stretching devices or stretching ovens. Preferably, thestretching of the domains in one spatial direction is performed toproduce an at least almost elliptical cross section.

For the representations in FIGS. 3 and 4 for different polyester-basedstrapping tapes with different proportions of polystyrene or withoutsuch splicing inhibitors or with commonly available standard additives(the data below the bars on the x-axis are defined in wt. % and theabbreviation “Std” stands for a commonly available standard additive and“Sty” stands for polystyrene) splicing was provoked by mechanicalpressure loading transversely to the direction of extension at atemperature of −5° C. (FIG. 3) or −15° C. (FIG. 4). This was performedmultiple times on each tape (40-60 times). The proportion of loadingincidents in which splicing actually occurred was evaluated as “low”.

In FIG. 3 in addition to pure additives also combinations of commonlyavailable splicing inhibitors and PS were added to the PET, in FIG. 4only pure additives.

As shown in FIG. 3, an additive of 1 wt. % PS has a much greatersplicing inhibiting effect than the 2 wt. % additive of the prior artsplicing inhibitor. In tapes with combinations of the prior art additiveand PS the resistance to splicing increases in these environmentalconditions with an increasing proportion of PS.

FIG. 4 shows that at the very low temperature of −15° C. for thisapplication with 2 wt. % PS the splicing tendency can be considerablyreduced. The additive from the prior art has no more effect in theseconditions.

The exemplary embodiments show and describe possible embodiment variantsof the tape-like packaging element, and it should be noted at this pointthat the invention is not restricted to these particular embodimentvariants, but rather various different combinations of the individualembodiment variants are possible and this variability owing to theteaching on technical procedure provided in the present invention shouldlie within the ability of a person skilled in the art in this technicalfield.

What is claimed is:
 1. A tape-like packaging element made from apolyester-based plastic tape, the plastic tape comprising at least onesplicing inhibitor, wherein the splicing inhibitor is a non-elastomeric,thermoplastic, styrene-based polymer, wherein the polyester-basedpackaging element contains less than 0.2 wt. % polyolefin.
 2. Thepackaging element as claimed in claim 1, wherein the splicing inhibitoris selected from the group consisting of polystyrene-homopolymer,styrene-butadiene copolymer, acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene copolymer,methyl-methacrylate-acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene copolymer,styrene-acrylonitrile copolymer, acrylonitrile-styrene-acrylatecopolymer, styrene-maleic acid anhydride copolymer,acrylonitrile-ethylene-styrene copolymer, acrylonitrile-chlorinatedpolyethylene-styrene, methyl-methacrylate-butadiene-styrene,styrene-α-methyl-styrene copolymer as well as mixtures thereof.
 3. Thepackaging element as claimed in claim 1, wherein the proportion ofstyrene-based polymer in the plastic tape is selected from a range witha lower limit of 0.2 wt. % and an upper limit of 20 wt. %.
 4. Thepackaging element as claimed in claim 1, wherein the polyester is athermoplastic polyester.
 5. The packaging element as claimed in claim 4,wherein the thermoplastic polyester is selected from the groupconsisting of polyethylene terephthalate, polybutylene terephthalate,polycarbonate, polyethylene naphthalate as well as mixtures thereof. 6.The packaging element as claimed in claim 1, wherein the polyester-basedplastic tape is polyolefin-free.
 7. The packaging element as claimed inclaim 1, wherein the proportion of the polyester in the plastic tape isat least 50 wt. %.
 8. The packaging element as claimed in claim 1,wherein in addition to the styrene-based splicing inhibitor at least oneadditional different splicing inhibitor is included in the plastic tape.9. The packaging element as claimed in claim 8, wherein the additionalsplicing inhibitor is selected from the group consisting ofolefin-acrylate copolymers, thermoplastic polymers, low densitypolyethylene, linear LDPE, polyethylene, polypropylene, butadienerubber, as well as mixtures thereof.
 10. The packaging element asclaimed in claim 8, wherein the proportion of additional splicinginhibitor is such that the ratio of the styrene-based splicing inhibitorto the additional splicing inhibitor is selected from a range of from80:20 to 20:80.
 11. The packaging element as claimed in claim 1, whereinthe styrene-based polymer in the plastic tape is unattached and/ordomain-like.
 12. The packaging element as claimed in claim 11, whereinthe binding forces between the domain and the surrounding matrix areweaker than the binding forces within the matrix and within the domain.13. The packaging element as claimed in claim 11, wherein the domainsare designed to be stretched in at least one spatial direction.
 14. Thepackaging element as claimed in claim 11, wherein the domains have anelliptical cross section in at least one spatial direction.
 15. Asplicing inhibitor for a polyester-based strapping tape or harvestingtwine comprising a styrene-based polymer.
 16. The splicing inhibitor asclaimed in claim 15, wherein the styrene-based polymer is selected froma group comprising or consisting of thermoplastic, styrene-basedpolymer, wherein the polystyrene homopolymer, styrene-butadienecopolymer (SB), acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene copolymer (ABS),methyl-methacrylate-acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene copolymer (MABS),styrene-acrylonitrile copolymer (SAN), acrylonitrile-styrene-acrylatecopolymer (ASA), styrene-maleic acid anhydride copolymer (SMA),acrylonitrile-ethylene styrene copolymer (AES), acrylonitrilechlorinated polyethylene styrene (ACS),methyl-methacrylate-butadiene-styrene (MBS),styrene-butadiene-styrene-copolymer (SBS),styrene-α-methyl-styrene-copolymer (SAM) as well as mixtures thereof.17. The packaging element as claimed in claim 1, wherein the packagingelement is strapping tape or harvesting twine.
 18. The packaging elementas claimed in claim 1, wherein the proportion of styrene-based polymerin the plastic tape is selected from a range with a lower limit of 0.2wt. % and an upper limit of 5 wt. %.
 19. The packaging element asclaimed in claim 1, wherein the polyester is a saturated polyester.